Red River Street construction nears completion

Red River Street from Main to Vine streets has officially reopened after the city reconstructed the road in concrete, widened it and installed a handicap access ramp.

After almost a year of construction, improvements to Red River Street are near completion.

"They're working on small details and getting close," said O.C. Garza, public information officer for the city of Victoria. "Little things - like paint, stripes and clean-up."

The street opened to two-way traffic on Tuesday.

Triple B Services of Huffman contracted the project for $865,000 in late July and had one year to finish it.

The four-block project from Main to Vine streets took a year to complete because of the complexities of improvements the street required. The steeper incline of that area meant engineers had to design a more intricate utility system, said Garza.

"To completely replace water and sewer usually doubles the price and triples the time."

Also contributing to the long timetable was the fact that, along with the Red River project, Triple B Services was working on Phase 1 of the Laurent Street reconstruction and replacing a downtown sewer line.

But that triple-booking actually saved the city money, said Garza.

"When a crew is working on two or more projects, it saves the city considerable dollars because the crew is already in town. Their equipment is in town, the concrete is here," said Garza.

Besides replacing underground utilities along Red River, workers also poured concrete in place of the old asphalt.

"We are trying to do all major thoroughfares in concrete because it has a life of 75 years," said Garza.

With the Red River project near completion, Garza said he has his sights set on similar improvements to Sam Houston Drive.

"A combination of replacing utilities and repairing with concrete is going to be our strategy," he said.